Thursday, March 10, 2011

Emirates to Offer Triple Daily Non-stop Flights to Manchester

DUBAI, UAE – 9 March 2011 - Emirates Airline is boosting its route to Manchester with the introduction of a third daily non-stop flight to cater for a continued growth in demand. With the introduction of the additional flight, Emirates will become the first carrier to operate three daily flights to Manchester from the same long haul destination.

The new service, which commences on 1st May, 2011, will increase Emirates’ capacity by 25%.

“Manchester is a real success story. To be adding a third flight just months after introducing our 517-seat A380 superjumbo to the route reflects surging demand for our flights in and out of the north west of England," said Salem Obaidalla, Emirates' Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation.

The additional flight will depart daily from Manchester at 9.40am, giving North West travellers a broader choice of flights to Dubai and beyond, with enhanced connections to Thailand, and cities in the Indian sub-continent and Middle East, as well as other points across Emirates’ global network.

The introduction of the new service comes less than a year after Emirates introduced the double-decker Airbus A380 on its lunchtime service from Manchester – the first time any airline had operated the ‘superjumbo’ on services from a regional airport. The A380’s arrival heralded greater traveller choice with the introduction of First Class cabins, alongside Business and Economy, on Emirates’ flights from Manchester, and also added much needed extra capacity.

"Since bringing the A380 to Manchester last September the route to Dubai has been one of Emirates’ strongest performers and we saw a full compliment of 517 in November so we know the traffic is there and the third daily service underlines the strength of this route and the importance of the Middle East to our longer term ambitions as an airport,” said Andrew Harrison, Managing Director of Manchester Airport. “Emirates’ operation in the North West has grown rapidly since it launched a twice-weekly service from Manchester in 1990."

The new service will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a three-class configuration seating 12 First Class, 42 Business Class and 183 Economy Class passengers. Once on board, passengers will be able to experience Emirates’ award-winning service and multi course meals prepared by leading international chefs.

Emirates offers a complimentary* chauffeur drive service to whisk First and Business Class passengers to the airport from their home or office. After check in, they can relax in the Emirates Lounge at Manchester - the most luxurious at the airport, which was opened in October 2009.

The new flight EK022 will depart Manchester (Terminal 1) at 9.40am daily, arriving into Dubai at 8.00pm. The return flight from Dubai EK021 departs at 3am arriving in Manchester at 7.55am (all times local).

From 1st May, 2011 Emirates will offer three daily flights between Manchester and Dubai:

• EK022 dep Manchester 9.40am arr Dubai 8.00pm

• EK018 dep Manchester 2.10pm arr Dubai 12.15am (following day)

• EK020 dep Manchester 9pm arr Dubai 7.05am (following day)

• EK021 dep Dubai 3am arr Manchester 7.55am

• EK017 dep Dubai 7.55am arr Manchester 12.25pm

• EK019 dep Dubai 2.35pm arr Manchester 7.15pm

About Emirates

Since its launch in 1985, Emirates Airline has received more than 400 international awards in recognition of its efforts to provide unsurpassed levels of customer service., including most recently the prestigious Air Transport World 2011 Airline of the Year award. Onboard, passengers can enjoy state-of-the-art ice inflight entertainment, meals produced by leading chefs and some of the finest wines available. Advance seat selection is complimentary on all flights, and Emirates offer generous baggage allowances for First Class, Business Class and Economy Class passengers of 50kgs, 40kgs and 30kgs respectively.

In 2010, Emirates launched services to Tokyo, Amsterdam, Prague, Madrid and Dakar in Senegal. In February 2011, the carrier launched a new route to Basra and will start services to Geneva on 1st June and Copenhagen on 1st August.